Eyes Without a Face
by Sakura aka L-sama no Miko
Summary: Just a little look into the mind of my fave Nobody after the events of 358/2 Days and KH II. Implied AkuXio.


Eyes without a Face

by Sakura (aka L-sama no Miko)

Disclaimer: I don't own a single thing in this fic, just the idea for it.

This is my second attempt at a KH fic, so do please be gentle. It's not easy getting into these Nobodies' heads.

**WARNING: MAJOR SPOILERS FOR KINGDOM HEARTS II AND 358/2 DAYS!!! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!!**

_ 'Who'd have thought I'd end up like this?'_ the redhead mused as he floated within the dark depths of nothingness. It wasn't that he regretted sacrificing himself to help Sora, the kid had his best friends inside him somewhere. Why else would Axel have done such a foolish thing? Being doomed to wander the eternal darkness until he found his heart had gotten pretty boring almost as soon as he'd woken within its depths. The Nobody began reflecting on the events that had made up the end of his 'non-existent' life, not even bother to question why he could suddenly remember a certain precious person.

It had all started when a certain keyblade wielding brat decided to release both his and his friend's hearts from within himself. Sora had been a heartless for only a few short hours, but it was long enough for a Nobody to form.

And thanks to his so called once pal had to 'babysit' the kid. Eventually Axel had actually come to like the blond Nobody. He hadn't been able to be so open with anyone since he joined the Organization, not even his original self's former best friend. Saix had become more and more of a true Nobody – a being without a single emotion – and thus a total prick. Roxas made him feel more comfortable, more alive.

The smaller blond was so easy to tease, but he never let it go too far. The kid was only beginning to come out of his shell. All was well in Axel's own little world until… her. Even now he still refused to think of Xion as anything but her own person.

Just as he'd finally gotten used to the blond enough to replace Saix's friendship, his newfound best friend had to go and get attached to said prick's new pet. He had felt as if the very flames he controlled were burning him from the inside at the girl's name. That had left Axel confused and startled. Was he beginning to actually have emotions?! _'Nah, couldn't be,'_ he had dismissed at the time, so certain that Nobodies weren't capable of feeling anything. _'Look at Saix, he's as cold as we come.'_

It actually left the redhead with a strange hurting deep inside when he learnt that Roxas had been spending what Axel considered 'their time' with the now infamous Xion. Almost every word out of the blond's mouth was 'Xion this' and 'Xion that.' And it drove the redhead crazy at Roxas' constant praising of the latest Organization member.

However, the taller Nobody had found himself unable to resist the cute blond anything and allowed the shy girl to join them at the clock tower when she had shown up Twilight Town after her mission. _'So our duo's a trio now, huh?' _Axel had pondered as he continued to munch on his sea salt ice cream.

His emerald eyes slid over to their latest addition. _'She's cute, I'll give her that much,'_ he thought, finding her short, sleek black hair and wide ocean blue eyes a rather pleasing combination. _'But Naminé's way cuter even if she does look like her. Besides, she's a bit too quiet if you ask me.'_ He'd be lying if he said the girl's appearance hadn't shocked the heck out of him, there was no way he was expecting an almost exact copy of the girl he'd met at 'that place.'

Xion hadn't said a word that first time the three of them had shared the salty confection. Looking back, Axel came to understand that she had obviously been nervous and uncomfortable with him. He had been away at C.O. after all and his sudden reappearance in Roxas' life was a bit of a shock to the shy girl.

During the all too short year he'd spent with the two keyblade wielding Nobodies, Axel had become more attached to Xion than he had believed. Sure he considered both of them to be his best friends; he even went so far as to say that they were inseparable. But, now that he had nothing but tons of time to think, Axel realized that he had much stronger feelings for the female Nobody than friendship.

_'Is that what love was? Did I really love Xion or was it just another level of friendship?'_ he mused. He'd been thinking of her a lot lately, missing her shy and quiet presence and the nights he and Xion had shared.

It had started off innocent enough. Whenever Roxas was too tired to visit her during the twenty days the girl was comatose, the older Nobody would quietly sit most of the night watching over Xion, occasionally brushing a stray raven lock every now and then. As their friendship grew, the redhead had found himself becoming more and more attracted to the girl. And as luck would have it, Xion was feeling that attraction as well.

With Saix and the others being the way they were, the two Nobodies had to keep the fact that Xion had almost practically moved into the redhead's room a secret. Out of all the remaining members, only Demyx and Roxas probably wouldn't care who slept with whom. Saix would have been disgusted, Xigbar would tease the two to no end – it was bad enough the one-eyed Nobody had gotten into call him Flamesilocks, and Xaldin would either try to use that against them or berate them for acting so foolish and weak. As for their leader Xenmas, who the heck knew what he was thinking half the time?

Whenever Xion was around, he got an eerily calm and at peace feeling that seemed to stem from somewhere deep inside him. Axel could almost say that he felt whole with the quiet girl and Roxas at his side.

God he hated himself. "You just had to go snooping around didn't you?" he chided himself. "Had to go looking for answers that were better left alone."

When he had learnt the truth about the girl, his whole being was thrown into turmoil. He refused to believe Vexen's notes and reports about "No. 1". It also sickened him that the poor girl was initially nothing more than a 'back up plan' in case Sora couldn't be controlled. How he hated the way Saix would constantly call her "it". Xion may have been made by them, but she still had the self awareness they all had. In Axel's eyes, and especially Roxas', that made her a person.

It pained him every time she collapsed whenever one of Sora's memories made its way into her already fragile mind. It hurt when she had run away, choosing to hang around some Nobody impostor instead of him or Roxas. It hurt even more when that prick of a 'friend' of his had all but practically ordered him to 'erase the mistake'.

After Xion's second defection, Axel tried to see her as nothing more than a failed replica, a puppet for the Organization to use, but Xion meant too much to him by then. He had become too attached to the girl to obey that distasteful command. "I never could see you as anything but Xion." What hurt the most was having to fight the girl he'd grown to care for deeply – and of course Roxas' own defection hadn't helped at the time either. _'Why did I always wind up with the icky jobs?' _he inwardly snarled. He could still remember the deep pain and burning anger as Xion turned her keyblade against him. The red haired Nobody wrapped his arms around his knees as he recalled an even more hideous day.

Axel's Memory

_Twilight Town had been abnormally quiet and void of heartless. The sunset was a deep bloody red. 'That can't be a good sign.' Axel mused as he headed to their usual spot. He had followed Roxas, hoping to talk some sense into the kid. He had been about to approach him atop the clock tower, but paused when an all too familiar cloaked figure appeared. Deciding to stay back and watch for the moment, he kept his ears open. As he listened, he steadily grew uneasy as the girl continued to talk. There was something off about her._

_ Axel heard the blond gasp and peeked around the corner of the building. He couldn't see anything out of the ordinary, Xion still had the short raven hair and blue eyes. __'What is he seeing, that I'm not?' he wondered worriedly. Emerald eyes widened in shock as the girl stepped off the high ledge and walked several feet into the air. She stood there as if there was an invisible floor. He sympathized with the blond as he watch Roxas struggle to follow her, his fear of falling to his doom keeping him at bay._

_ Suddenly Xion extended her arm and dark power began to envelop her. Both males stared in utter disbelief as the girl they both cared so deeply for transformed into a hideous armored form of Sora. __'Just what did those bastards do to her?!' Axel screamed in silent fury. Before he could stop either of his friends, Xion opened a dark portal and whisked Roxas off to Kingdom Hearts knew where._

_ The redheaded Nobody paced anxiously back and forth on the clock tower, fearing for his dearest best friends. After what seemed like an eternity, the two reappeared. This time Xion had taken on the form of a gigantic armored Sora. He longed to rush in and break up the fight, but some invisible wall was keeping him from the two. He watched with great pain as the two friends fought. The battle was over in a matter of minutes for Xion was at her limit._

_ Axel teleported to the Station Plaza below and continued to watch as Roxas ran to the collapsed and crystallizing girl. Oh how he wanted to be there with them, but he knew that this was something Roxas had to face alone.__ He knew he'd regret staying away, but somehow Axel felt it wasn't right. 'I was right,' he spat bitterly. 'This whole thing stinks!'_

_ He listened to Xion's final words and silently vowed not to listen to what Xenmas or Saix told him ever again. He would do what he believed to be the best for everyone – himself included.__ The intense stabbing pain where his heart should be increased as he listened to the blond's quiet sobbing. He struggled with himself to go comfort Roxas, but what could he do? What could he have said back then? Sorry? Sorry would never had cut it._

_ Axel watched as the younger Nobody opened a portal and vanished. Once he was certain his only remaining friend was not coming back to that world, the flame wielding Nobody let out an anguished scream of ultimate suffering. He felt as if every part of his body and soul were being torn apart, never to be whole again._

End of Memory

Unbeknownst to him, Axel had already developed a heart of his own due to his time with Roxas and Xion. Now all the darkness had to do was wait for him to realize that so it could set him free – if it didn't change its mind by then.

It seemed that the Keyblade Master had been the 'key' in more ways than Xenmas had thought. The two keyblade wielders had a power none of them could ever have guessed existed – not even Roxas or Xion themselves were aware of. A power to draw the heart's light from the deepest darkness of a person's soul whether they be human, heartless, or Nobody and as a result restore emotions and thus hearts to those they cared for.

"Wish I could remember what emotions felt like. That'd explain a hell of a lot."

"Roxas…" the redhead whispered, reaching into one of his many coat pockets and pulling out a Popsicle stick. The word 'winner' was printed in neat capital letters on one side. The Axel was worried. "Xion…" he whispered again, missing the feeling he'd get whenever the three had shared ice cream. Were his best friends happy being stuck inside that bratty Keyblade Master? Did Sora make it to their base okay? Was he even still alive?

"Don't you go off and die on me now," he said, choosing to believe that the kid was still okay.

"I just can't believe it," Axel muttered to himself, ignoring the whispers of the dark that had been his only companions since his 'death'. "I had to go and develop a conscience. Way to go, Ax."

Now that he was trapped in darkness and possibly for all eternity, he found himself wishing that at least Xion was with him. "I really could go for some ice cream right now, or even a nice sunset. At least I'd have something to do!"

The hole in the Nobody's heart where the raven haired girl once occupied seemed to be getting larger each and every time Axel thought of the replica. "God I miss you… Xion." He closed his eyes. Even now, Xion's bright blue eyes and gentle, shy smile were as clear and bright as they had been when she had first removed her hood all those months ago.

Reaching into a pocket of his black cloak, the red haired Nobody pulled out a small green and blue seashell. He smiled longingly as he looked at for a few moments then gently brought it up to his ear. A single crystalline tear dropped from shut emerald eyes as the sound of the sea poured into the redhead's ear.

~Owari~

A/N: Not my usual stuff, I know. I had a bit of trouble with this baby but it kept demanding I get it written, so this is what happens when I have no real plot in mind. -_-''' As for the song that inspired this thing, if you've played 358/2 Days all the way through, you would see that it fits Xion, especially since she is supposed to appear as different things to each of the Nobodies – hence 'Eyes without a Face'. Hope you like it anyway.


End file.
